Académique Documents
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Study Pramela Krish1*, Thang Siew Ming1 , Lee Kean Wah2 , Radha Nambiar1
and Azizah Yaacob3 1 School of Language Studies and Linguistics, Faculty of
Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600
Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia 2 School of Education and Social Development,
Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
3 Centre for General Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi,
Selangor, Malaysia ABSTRACT This article examines the online experiences of
a group of Science teachers from five Smart Schools who shared their
teaching practices via blogs. The study was undertaken to explore the
effectiveness of this technology in improving teaching practices and
promoting a community of practice. Data were elicited via blog postings of
what the teachers perceived as best lessons and comments and feedback
posted by their team members. These postings were supported with data
from a focus group interview. The findings revealed that blogging had to a
large extent led teachers to share principles of teaching and practice but only
partially succeeded in promoting collaborative efforts among the teachers as
evinced by the lukewarm postings and feedback. On the whole, the teachers
exhibited concerns related to their awareness, readiness and competency in
embracing the changes expected of them. Keywords: Blogging, teaching and
learning, teaching practices, professional development, Smart schools
INTRODUCTION The advancement of technology can help build a community
of practice which shares knowledge and experiences in a collaborative way.
Teachers need to take advantage of such innovations in their practices to
make continuous progress to facilitate students learning. However, there
seems to be a lack of support to help teachers move in that direction. As
pointed out by the National Research Council (2007), teachers need
appropriate modern tools to take advantage of online programmes and it is
inaccurate to assume Pramela Krish, Thang Siew Ming, Lee Kean Wah, Radha
Nambiar and Azizah Yaacob 434 Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 20 (2): 434 454 (2012) that teachers have the necessary computer skills and equipment
to be able to embrace online technology entirely on their own. In line with
this, a group of researchers from three universities, the National University of
Malaysia (UKM), University of Nottingham (UK) and University of Sabah
(Malaysia) undertook a project based on a partnership model for online
professional development to support the professional development of a group
of Science teachers from five Malaysian Smart Schools through online means
and to promote the use of ICT in their teaching practices. The model used is
known as CPDelT: Model 2020, which is loosely based on the successful UKbased Improving the Quality of Education for All (IQEA) project (Hopkins et al.,
1996). IQEA was initially set up by a team of researchers at the University of
Cambridge Institute Of Education in the early 1990s. The overall aim of the
university-based project was to produce and evaluate a model of school
development and a program of support that strengthens a schools ability to
provide quality education for all its pupils building on existing good practice
(Ainscow et al., 1994, p. 5). The eCPDelt (e-Continuous Professional
Development for English language teaching) project is closely aligned with
the Malaysian Ministry of Educations desire to maximise the utilisation of
Information Communication Technology (ICT) in schools (Ministry of Education
Malaysia, 1997) and also the goals of Vision 2020, which seek to equip the
workforce with essential skills to access knowledge and information and to
position Malaysia as a competitive knowledge-based economy (more
information about this project can be found in Thang et al., 2010). This article
shares the findings from the blog discussions of a group of teachers teaching
Science from five different Smart Schools. This involved the sharing of
effective teaching practices among the teachers by reflecting and sharing
their best lessons through their blogs and responding to comments posted by
other team members in the discussion online. Data from these postings were
supported with a focus group interview. REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES This
section reviews the related literature on the Science curriculum, the
principles in teaching and learning Science, and the integration of ICT in
teaching Science. Science curriculum and relevant principles in teaching and
learning Science Before looking at studies on how blogs can be a tool in
enhancing teaching and learning of Science, it is important to understand
some important elements of the Science curriculum. Science education for
secondary schools in Malaysia has been designed to provide students with
knowledge and skills in Science to develop thinking skills, and strategies to
enable them to solve problems and make decisions in everyday life (Ministry
of Education Malaysia, 2002). It aims to produce Malaysian citizens who are
scientifically and technologically literate, competent in scientific skills,
Blogging in Enhancing Teaching and Learning of Science: A Qualitative Case
Study Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 20 (2): 435 - 454 (2012) 435 possess good
moral values, are capable of coping with the changes arising from scientific
and technological advances, and able to manage nature with wisdom and
responsibility for the betterment of mankind (Sharifah Maimunah Syed Zin,
2003). Employing different ways to present and teach Science and
Mathematics is a continuing professional concern. Effandi Zakaria and
Zanaton Iksan (2007) urge Malaysian teachers to move away from the
traditional approaches in presenting their lessons and to embrace teaching
strategies that are more students-centred, such as co-operative learning
where students are actively involved in sharing ideas and working cooperatively to complete interactive tasks. Likewise, Project 2061 (American
Association for the Advancement of Science, 1990), Science for All
Americans, shares similar sentiments about the need to place greater
emphasis on what students should learn, and how Science ought to be
taught. Drawing from a growing body of research knowledge about the
nature of learning and on craft knowledge about teaching that has stood the
test of time (see http://www.project2061.org/publications/
where they were taught how to commence a blog, post entries into their post
and respond to others blogs. The teachers were given two tasks during this
workshop. Task one required the teachers to reflect on a lesson conducted by
them, which was considered good, whereas task two was reflecting on a
lesson they considered as bad (see Appendix A). These teachers had to share
both lessons with other teachers via a blogging activity. Technical assistance
was provided via email and telephone conversations throughout this activity
by the mentors from the research team that had been assigned to them. The
description that follows focuses only on Science teachers as they were the
group under investigation in this study. Nonetheless, the participation from
the Science teachers was rather dismal despite numerous reminders via
email and text messages. Only six teachers posted their blogs by the end of
February 2009, and no comment was posted by the teachers on the blogs. In
view of that, a focus group interview was conducted to look into the cause of
the lack of participation (see Appendix B for the questions asked during the
interview). The interviews with four teachers were audio-taped and
transcribed to be analysed. After the focus group discussions, there was a
marked increase in online blog activities compared to only four postings
previously and the comments sent in by members were indeed encouraging.
The moderators played their part by giving their comments and feedback on
the blogs entries posted by the teachers. These blog entries were then
thematically analysed according to the principles of teaching and learning
Science, as reflected in Fig.1. Similarly, data from the interview were
thematically analysed. TABLE 1 Teachers Profile School Teacher Gender
Forms taught Subjects taught Teaching Experience A T1 Female 4, 5
Chemistry 28 years T2 Female 4, 5 Physics 11 years B T3 Female 2, 5 Science
6 months C T4 Female 6 Biology 10 years T5 Female 4 Biology 5 years D T6
Female 1, 2 Science, Mathematics 2 years T7 Female 1, 4 Biology, Science 4
months E T8 Female 3, 4, 5 Chemistry 14 years T9 Female 1, 4, 5 Science 6
years Pramela Krish, Thang Siew Ming, Lee Kean Wah, Radha Nambiar and
Azizah Yaacob 440 Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 20 (2): 440 - 454 (2012)
PARTICIPANTS Nine Science teachers, who were involved in the research
project, took part as subjects in the current study. Table 1 provides the
participants/teachers profile. DATA ANALYSIS Postings of the teachers blog
were sorted into five categories and analysed together with the
supplementary data from the focus group interview. The six categories were
adapted from the Project 2061 (American Association for the Advancement of
Science, 1990) framework for quality teaching and learning practices on
teachers blogs. As Project 2061 framework was designed for American
teachers, it was therefore modified to suit the Malaysian context as the
principles are related to the teaching and learning of Science. The categories
used are listed below: 1. Progression in learning from the concrete to the
abstract 2. Practice of doing helps learning 3. Effective learning requires
feedback 4. Collaborative practice 5. Creativity and teaching beyond the
classroom The collected data were organised into these categories and
analysed accordingly. The purpose of this analysis was to find out the extent
to which the sharing among the teachers could be fit into the above
categories, as illustrated in Fig.1. RESULTS FROM THE BLOG ENTRIES
Progression in Learning from the Concrete to the Abstract Excerpt 1 shows
the teachers sharing instances where they engaged their students in
meaningful activities that would introduce them to concepts in a way that the
students could easily understand and digest, and thus moving learning from
concrete to abstract. For example, Teacher 6 taught pressure and surface
area by getting the students to build parachutes. Teacher 4 used diagram,
videos, pictures, and animation that are presented using technology to help
her students understand progress more clearly. Teacher 2 taught the concept
of radiation by using information from the Internet to show the tug-of-war in
the nucleus between the proton and neutrons. Practice of Doing Helps
Learning Excerpt 2 shows the manner in which Teacher 5 shared how she had
helped her students to understand the functions of the eyes by getting her
students to dissect a cows eye in groups following a video presentation.
Effective Learning Requires Feedback There was no evidence of teachers
sharing how to give feedback to their students. However, there was clear
evidence of feedback given by the teachers to support each other, as
indicated in Excerpt 3. Teachers 3 and 4 praised the teachers who had posted
useful ideas. Teacher 1 went Blogging in Enhancing Teaching and Learning of
Science: A Qualitative Case Study Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 20 (2): 441 454 (2012) 441 further in giving a counter suggestion to further enhance the
lesson by presenting their mind maps via powerpoint presentation.
Collaborative Practice The blog postings in Excerpt 4 show the teachers
sharing ways to initiate collaboration among the students in their classes. For
instance, Teacher 4 explained how she had tried to introduce self-access
learning and project-based learning by getting her students to work in small
groups. She took gender, race and academic achievements into consideration
when dividing them into groups. EXCERPT 1 Occurrences of Progression in
Learning from the Concrete to the Abstract The most interesting topic Force
and Motions (Relationship between Pressure and Surface Area). In this topic,
students learned how to relate the pressure and surface area by doing a
meaningful activity like build the parachute. In this activity they can use
their ideas involving concepts that they was learned before. In this lesson,
they observed how the concepts were working. I always ask students to
apply the concepts by doing simple activities and relate to their life. The
interactive modules also help my lesson in my class. By using this module,
especially the simulation, it will give my students more understanding.
Teacher 6 ill make sure that my lesson is as simple ill explain by using
simple english to make sure they can understand. With the help of
technology i will show them all the diagram, videos, pictures, animation and
etc so that they could see the process clearly. Teacher 4 In most text books
or reference books, the explanation for radioactive decay is: caused by its
unstable nucleus. What actually causes a nucleus to be unstable is not
explained in these books. In my lesson, I served the internet to get
information about why a nucleus is unstable before it emits radiation. Then,
the information is presented using PowerPoint. It is actually caused by the
attractive force and repulsive force acted on the protons and neutrons in a
nucleus. These 2 forces reveal a tug-of-war in the nucleus. When the term
tug-of-war is used, wows and ohs are heard which means the students
understood and they found it interesting something which they cant get
from books. Teacher 2 Pramela Krish, Thang Siew Ming, Lee Kean Wah, Radha
Nambiar and Azizah Yaacob 442 Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 20 (2): 442 454 (2012) Creativity and Teaching Beyond the classroom Teachers also
shared creative methods they used in their teaching. As illustrated in Excerpt
5, Teacher 4 used creative tools like diagrams, mind maps and interactive
courseware, whereas Teacher 1 exchanged roles with her students and that
resulted in students giving very creative powerpoint lessons. She also related
stories to liven up a class of bored students. Teachers also provided examples
of how they had gone beyond the classroom to motivate their students.
Excerpt 6 shows how Teacher 9 taught the Balance of Nature by bringing
her class of students outside to look for insects, identify and witness the
insect that made up the food web. Having presented the findings derived
from inductive analysis of blog entries, the subsequent section present
findings that were derived from the focus group interview using the same
procedures employed in analysing the blog data. EXCERPT 2 Examples of how
practice of doing can help learning Sense of Sight and light. I stressed on the
structure of an eye. It is an experiment on observing the structure and
function of the human eye. The experiment that i did with them is dissection
of cows eye. With the help of technology i manage to download the video
from this website and i asked my student to carry out this experiment in
class. Basically we carry out this experiment with the help of the video that i
have downloaded before to make sure they know what they are doing. What i
did is, i divide my students into 6 groups and ask them to bring a cows eye
for each group. Then they will follow the video that i have downloaded as i
show it on the screen by using LCD projector. I will paused and play as they
did the disection to make sure they are on the correct path. This was different
than other lesson because they have an experience to see the real structure
of an eyeball. Humans eyeballs have the same structure as the cows eyeball.
So in order to understand the real structure in theoretically they get to feel
and see by themselves. This will improved the level of understanding of my
students. The reason this lesson successful is because of they get the
experienced to see the structure of an eye and relate it with the functions for
each part of an eye. From here, i learned that my students needs a hands on
approach with the help of ICT approach to make them understand a certain
topics better. This will also make my lesson more interesting. Teacher 5
powerpoint while l sat at the back and listened. They came out with colourful,
well prepared powerpoint presentation and took pride in explaining their
presentation. In fact one of the students brought a digital camera to video
taped their presentation. There were so much fun as the students were free
to question the group that did the presentation. After the presentation i
replayed the video for students to see them in action. I believe that at times
we must break monotony and let the students show their talent Teaching
chemistry to rural students back in the nineties was a real challenge to me
because most students were not interested to come to school. It was a chore
and chemistry seemed alien to them. So what i did then was to focus on
being friendly and most of the time end up telling them stories instead of
chemistry Teacher 1 Pramela Krish, Thang Siew Ming, Lee Kean Wah, Radha
Nambiar and Azizah Yaacob 446 Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 20 (2): 446 454 (2012) to do so since she majored in a different discipline from many of
them and taught only lower forms. Teacher 4 had a similar opinion. She also
felt that it would come across as showing off. My problem is I cant comment
on other peoples work because they major different subjects. They teach
Chemistry, Biology. For me, Im teaching the lower forms and the science for
lower forms is very basic and so I dont need to go into details. Very big
difference. Teacher 4 Thats one of the reasons. Were worried that we are a
bit show off, like as if we are so good, but we are not. Teacher 6 Other
teachers were reluctant to comment as they did not want to offend their
team members. In addition, they were not comfortable to respond in the
blogs as they were afraid of being criticised in return. As Teacher 4 added:
and at the same time we are not comfortable with other people criticizing us,
they may say funny things. Teacher 4 This led to teachers being very cautious
and hesitant in putting too much on the blogs. The teachers were also not
able to perceive the blog as a platform that could help them to improve their
teaching practice and to solve the problems they faced in the classrooms.
This is indicated in the following excerpt: May be the tasks given to us, the
approach must be made more friendly. . Everybody wants to say
something, comment on each other. Teacher 4 The teachers also faced
problems in getting access to computers to perform the blogging activities in
their schools as they had to share computers with other teachers. As Teacher
4 lamented: .Like for me, Im teaching Form 6 and am away from the main
block. We have our own building without any facilities, computers. So for any
facilities we have to come to the main block. By the time we come to the
main building either a teacher is using the materials or the computers or the
computers have broken down. Always break down. Thats the problem.
Teacher 4 Teachers also complained that computers were not functioning
most of the time. This can be a great hindrance to them as it can kill
enthusiasm. However, time seemed to be the biggest obstacle for these
teachers. The teachers claimed that in view of the fact that they had to spend
a lot of time preparing lessons, they did not Blogging in Enhancing Teaching
and Learning of Science: A Qualitative Case Study Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. &
Hum. 20 (2): 447 - 454 (2012) 447 have time to participate more actively in
the blogs. For this, Teacher 7 said: I also have problem with time as a lot of
time I spend to prepare my lessons. Because I concentrate on my teaching
because this is the first time Im teaching Form 5 Biology. Theres a lot of
pressure on me. Ive got to prepare the teaching materials. So sometimes Ill
do until midnight. So it is hard to find the time to do blogging. Teacher 7
Teacher 9 further complained about having to attend meetings and carry out
administrative work. Hence, she claimed she did not have the time to
participate in the blogs. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION The exploration of blogs,
as a resource in enhancing teaching and learning, fulfilled several goals set
out in the current research study. At one level, the experience was designed
to increase awareness in the Science teachers about the power of blogging.
At another level, one goal was to help teachers develop a sense of
themselves as creators of knowledge, rather than just consumers of
information, and to see themselves as meaningful contributors to
professional development. At yet another level, their participation in the
online community (blog) suggested the idea that peer sharing among
teachers could be seen as a valuable source for professional development, a
connection that would ideally be continued long after the completion of this
study. In exploring whether blogging actually leads to sharing of good
teaching and learning practices, it can thus be concluded that blogging does
to a large extent lead to the sharing of teaching and learning practices. The
sharing of practices, as evinced in the findings discussed, shows that
blogging can be used as a platform to discuss and share practices among
teachers from different schools, which otherwise would not be possible due to
geographical differences. With the use of blogs created for subject experts
that offer an abundance of advice and information to teachers (Clyde, 2005),
teachers have more access to information and resources within their grasp,
and the geographical factor of collaborating with other teachers can be
eliminated with an online community of educators. Through blogs, teachers
can communicate and support one another as they continue to learn and
develop in their respective schools. This study has also indicated that the
blog studied here demonstrate a community of practice, albeit at an infancy
stage, in that it was used by the participants as a discussion space. It was a
forum that required teachers to share their perceived best and worst
practices by discussing beliefs, learning from each other, and demonstrating
to each other how they would act in their actual classrooms. The blog is a
place for these teachers to voice their doubts, struggles, discomforts, and
successful and unhappy teaching and learning experiences because the
participants share very similar Pramela Krish, Thang Siew Ming, Lee Kean
Wah, Radha Nambiar and Azizah Yaacob 448 Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 20
(2): 448 - 454 (2012) experiences of being Science teachers. Dewey (1933)
claims that if we want to make our experience educative, it is essential to
study has shown that blogs can to a certain extent be used as an extra tool
for Science teachers to engage in computersupported communication that
resulted in better teaching and learning. Most teachers who experienced
teaching as an isolated job, and one where they bear a heavy burden of
responsibility behind the closed doors of the classroom (Hawkes &
Romiszowski, 2001) should find blogs useful to break down the firewall
around the classroom, open lines of communication, and help them to
become reflective practitioners. While blogging appears to be helpful in
encouraging and supporting teachers to be engaged in reflective practice
with one another, caution has to be exercised as well on the basis of the
partial evidence presented here, i.e. the public nature of blogs can be
simultaneously a motivating and threatening resource for teachers, as most
of whom are not accustomed to publishing their ideas for worldwide
consumption via the Web. Finally, simply making blogs available in the
context of this study is unlikely to be enough to motivate teachers to make
full use of these resources. The degree to which mentors should participate in
the online discussions, as a strategy to encourage teachers to join in and stay
in the conversation, needs to be determined and clearly worked out.
Moreover, since sharing of practices and reflection via blogs does not happen
magically, as with any knowledge, skill, or disposition, teachers must acquire,
and reflective blogging must be promoted and supported. Our research team
ought to think of purposeful steps to encourage teachers to develop the habit
of engaging in this activity if it is ever to become generalised into the
teachers professional lives. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This article is based on a
research project (Code: UKM-GUP-TMK-08-03-310) funded by Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia. REFERENCES Ainscow, M., Hopkins, D., Southworth, G.,
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that you like? 3. What about the blogging activities that you dont like? 4.
What are some of the problems you faced (if any)? 5. How do you think things
can be improved? 6. How do you feel about the role of the mentors in this? 7.
What do you want more? 8. What do you want less? 9. How do you feel about
your involvement so far?